A Cold Hard Lesson
by Muse2488
Summary: Leo's hurt and can't get ahold of his brother's. What's worse, is there's a blizzard and he's stuck outside. Brotherly fluff and h/c await all those who read this! Please read and review!


_I am in so much trouble._ Leo thought to himself as he looked at his surroundings. It was the middle of January and New York City was covered in a thick blanket of snow. A blizzard had made its way to the city earlier this morning and had been dumping the white stuff since. It was easily nearing evening time, the sky getting darker and the already cold temperature dropping even more. Leo shivered, wishing he hadn't gone on patrol alone tonight. His brothers had figured that with the blizzard only one of them needed to go on patrol. Raph of course had volunteered himself, but Leo wasn't comfortable with allowing Raph to be on his own like that. His hothead brother still had a slight limp from the Foot beating he had received a month ago. Mikey was outvoted by Donnie and Raph, insisting that he got sick too easily; which was true, out of all of them Mikey was the one to always get sick. Donnie had an IT shift he had picked up so he was a no go, which left Leo. Of course he would've been the one to go out anyways; he's the leader and as the leader takes on those kinds of responsibilities. Of course, just because there's a blizzard doesn't mean that crime stops.

Leo had been chasing down three punks who were trying to break into a house when they ran into Central Park. Leo caught up with one of them and took him down easily; he was looking for the other two when he felt a stinging pain in his ankle before he crumpled to the ground. The two punks had shot him in the ankle. Leo rolled down a hill, concealing himself in the woods and leaning against a tree. The would-be-robbers must've left a few minutes after Leo had rolled down the hill. The pain was blinding and the cold was not helping. He was sitting in almost two feet worth of snow, the only thing he had to look forward to was that soon the cold would make him numb. Hypothermia would set in quickly if it hadn't already. Leo couldn't even call his brothers for help. His shell cell must've dropped out of his pocket somewhere on his way down the hill. He looked down at his ankle, the white snow around it now red from all the blood; he could see the bullet went clean through it. At least he didn't have to worry about Donnie having to pull it out when his brothers did manage to find him. He had no idea how long he had been sitting in the freezing snow, but it was pitch black by now and Leo was quickly becoming worried. He had to get out of there, had to get back to the lair. Leonardo took a deep breath and went to stand, only to collapse on the floor, gritting his teeth to keep from crying out in pain.

_Oh yeah…I am in big trouble._ Leo thought to himself. He could only imagine what kind of damage the bullet did to his ankle if he couldn't even put any kind of weight on it. He bent over and gingerly touched the wound, not being able to hold in the cry of pain this time.

"Mother…" He trailed off, almost cursing for the first time in years. If Raph had been here he would've smirked and teased him for weeks about it. Leonardo looked up again, eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, and saw his shell cell at the top of the hill.

"Of course it's all the way up there." Leo muttered angrily to himself. He had to find a way to get it down to him. Leo looked around him and saw a few sticks popping out of the snow. He grabbed the closest one and threw it towards his phone. It was a direct hit of course, but he had only managed to dig the phone deeper into the thick snow.

"F-fan-ta-tastic." Leonardo grumbled, digging through the snow and looking for a rock. He found a few small ones and chucked them at his phone, hoping to succeed in knocking his phone down the hill. Of course it didn't work and soon his whole body was trembling uncontrollably. He was going to throw another stick when he suddenly couldn't muster the energy to do so. The trembling increased and soon he felt as if a thousand needles were stabbing his entire body. He recognized the signs of hypothermia finally setting in.

"I a-am s-s-so s-screwed." Leo said through chattering teeth. He pulled his uninjured leg closer to his body, then grabbed his injured one with his hands, pulling it close as well. The movement jarred his ankle and he grunted in pain, unable to be silent about it. Once his legs were closer to his body he wrapped his arms around his middle, trying his hardest to get warm. It was so cold, and he was getting so tired. Leo leaned his head back, the tree keeping him upright, and closed his eyes.

OoOoOoO

_Ugh…my head…_

"I think he's waking up!" A voice exclaimed.

_Mikey…?_

"About damn time, I've been meaning to give him a piece of my mind." An angry voice growled.

_Raph…?_

"We all want to give him a piece of our mind. But let's wait and see how he's doing first." A patient yet irritated voice added.

_Donnie…?_

"My sons…be patient with Leonardo…he is surely hurting…plus, I get to yell at him first."

_Master Splinter…? Why is everyone so intent on yelling at me? I need to find out what's going on._ Leo thought as he struggled to open his eyes. It was a surprisingly difficult task. He finally managed to open them, but only colors and disfigured shapes swam before him. Thinking he had gone partially blind, Leo began to panic.

"Leonardo…calm down my son. You are disoriented from the injury and sickness, take it easy." Master Splinter said.

"S-Sensei?" Leo croaked out. He was shocked at how hoarse he sounded; how weak.

"It is good to see you awake." His father replied. Leo's vision was slowly becoming normal and he could finally see his brothers and father huddled around him. Master Splinter was smiling down at him.

"About time dude!" Mike exclaimed with a goofy grin on his face.

"How are you feeling?" Don asked, his voice taking on that 'doctor' tone of his. He had a clipboard in his hand and was poking and prodding at Leo's body.

"Sore." Leo replied, trying his hardest to remain stoic when Donnie touched his ankle.

"Still hurts?" Don asked. Leo nodded. "What's sore, besides the ankle?"

"My head…my back…my arms…my legs…" Leo replied.

Donatello chuckled. "That'll be because of the flu you've been battling for the past two weeks."

Two weeks?!

"Two weeks?!" Leo shouted, then immediately regretted it as the soreness in his throat protested the shout.

"Would you stop that? And yes two weeks. You've been in and out of consciousness since we found you in the snow." Donnie told him.

"Yeah, would ya mind explainin' that one oh Fearless leader?" Raph demanded.

"Uh…" Leonardo trailed off before Raph exploded.

"What were ya thinkin' Leo?! How could ya be so stupid? You almost died do ya know that? You had hypo-friggin'-thermia! It was all we could do to get ya warm again! You were mutterin' nonsense in your sleep, we thought ya mighta been brain damaged more than what ya already are! Ya couldn't pick up the friggin' phone and call us? You were shot in the ankle bro! What did ya think ya were gonna do? Crawl back home?!" Raph demanded, pacing the lab and glaring murderously at his big brother.

"My phone fell out when I rolled down the hill." Leo answered somewhat sheepishly.

"You're supposed to be a bit more responsible than that Leo, you know that's the only way we can get a hold of one another in case of an emergency." Donatello reminded him.

"I know Donnie…" Leo sighed.

"My son, it was foolish of you to leave on your own." Master Splinter told his son harshly. Leo dropped his gaze in shame. "I understand your concern for your brothers, but you must understand their concern for you; my concern for you. We are never to patrol alone, no matter how easy it may seem at the time. You are the leader of this team and as such you are to be the example for your brothers to follow. Once you are well you will have extra training session's everyday with me until further notice, understood?"

"Yes Sensei." Leo replied quietly, eyes still downcast. Leo felt a finger under his chin, urging his head up. Leo looked into his father's face, concern in his eyes.

"It is good to see you awake Leonardo." His father said as he wrapped his arms around his sons frame.

Leo returned the hug. "Thank you father."

Master Splinter patted his sons' cheek before leaving the brothers alone. Raph was still breathing heavily from his outburst earlier, Don and Mike were still scowling at him too.

"Look guys…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare any of you, honestly." Leo told his brothers.

Raph scoffed. "Who said any of us were scared?"

Donnie nudged Raphael in the side, resulting in Raph rolling his eyes. Mikey jumped down from the counter he was sitting on and walked over to his oldest brother. Once there, Leo tried for a smile and Mike smacked the back of his head.

"Ow! Mikey, what the shell?!" Leo demanded.

"Don't make me do it again." Mikey threatened. Leo narrowed his eyes at his baby brother and Mike returned the glare.

"I said I was sorry, what more do you want?" Leo asked.

"Oh I dunno, how about an explanation as to why you were shot in the ankle and dying in the snow?" Mike asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Leo sighed before sitting up a bit straighter. "I saw three punks trying to break into someone's house, I followed them into Central Park, took one of them out and was on my way to taking the other two when they shot me in the ankle. I rolled down a hill in order to conceal myself and my phone fell out of my pocket. I threw everything I could at it in order to get it to slide down the hill, but nothing worked. I couldn't get up and get it either, I tried to get up once and my ankle couldn't take the weight. I was freezing cold by then and…well…I was so tired, I felt…that if maybe I could just…I dunno, sleep a bit, I'd be fine once I woke up…"

"Sleep a bit? Leo, you were unconscious and completely frozen when we finally found you!" Mike exclaimed.

"How did you guys find me?" Leo asked.

"Well, Raph's shell cell's emergency alarm went off. Donnie immediately turned the GPS on and off we went." Donatello replied.

"I guess throwin' all the junk actually paid off." Raph muttered.

"Guess so." Leo replied.

The room went silent after that. Raph was still fuming, but he felt a bit better. He'd never admit it to any of his brothers, but he was worried sick the past two weeks. He'd never seen his older brother so pale before, it unnerved him. His big, tough, Fearless leader brother had never looked so young and so small before. He looked better now, but he was skinnier than normal, his muscle definition practically gone now.

"So…how long do you think Master Splinter will have me on lock down?" Leo asked, trying to lighten the moment. He didn't like all the attention on himself like this.

Mikey laughed, a true laugh and the scowl on his face disappeared. "Dude, you'll be thirty by the time you're allowed to leave the lair again."

Donatello chuckled next. "I agree with Mikey on this one. You're toast. Splinter is gonna exhaust you during these extra training sessions. You'll be begging to just sleep afterwards."

Leo groaned dramatically, throwing an arm over his face.

"Serves you right shell for brains." Mikey replied, rubbing the top of Leo's head. "Get some rest Leo. I'll be here bright and early to annoy you tomorrow."

"Fabulous."

Mikey grinned and left, Donnie following him after throwing his older brother a wink. Raph stayed, his arms folded across his chest, still slightly scowling at Leo.

"How long are you gonna be mad at me?" Leonardo asked.

"Let's just say I'm gonna enjoy watching Splinter wipe the floor with ya, the next few weeks."

Leo winced. "Would it help if I said I was scared?"

Raph considered this for a moment. "A bit."

Leo rolled his eyes but smile despite himself.

"Ya do that again Leonardo, and I'll kill ya."

"Hey, I'm the one that first names all of you alright? Not the other way around." Leo joked.

"Yeah well, I'm second oldest and whenever ya do somethin' stupid, it's up to me to first name ya."

Leo chuckled. "Duly noted."

"Get some sleep big brother. You're gonna need it." Raph said. He turned around to look at Leo, but he was already asleep, his breathing even. Raph shook his head and smiled to himself before allowing his idiot of a big brother to get some much needed rest.


End file.
